Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) has confirmed that the defense ministry has launched a formal study into whether Belgium has the ability to send F-16s to Ukraine after all.
Previously, Defense Minister Michel Hofman had declared the prospect “unthinkable.”
While Belgium’s total of 45 F-16s are too old for use in combat, Belgium still needs them until their replacements, the F-35s, have been delivered—a process expected to take two to four years.
“We have asked Defense to see if our aircraft are wholly at the end of their lifespan,” De Croo (Open VLD) said on Wednesday, September 20th, on the sidelines of the UN’s General Assembly in New York.
While, by Belgian standards, the F-16s are not fit for service, they could still be of use to Ukraine, according to De Croo. “We have to explore all options,” he said, since for example, the planes do not have to be used for combat missions. “It could be that Ukraine only uses Belgian aircraft for training purposes. In that case, the requirements are different,” he said.
Earlier that day, Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval of the conservative-liberal MR (Mouvement Réformateur) party urged for more Belgian military aid to go to Ukraine.
“It is the government that decides [on whether or not to send more aid],” he noted, adding that, according to information his party has access to, it is “possible that in 2024, between two and four aircraft could be sent.”
Clarinval believes that Belgium is “lagging behind” other countries in terms of solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
“We are not among the front runners, we are giving five times less than the Netherlands for example, which is a bit of a shame,” he lamented, as he urged his colleagues in government to be “less cautious.”
Belgium entered into an international “fighter jet coalition,” led by the Netherlands and Denmark, a couple of months ago. Unlike those two countries, Belgium was not to contribute actual fighter jets but would help with the training of Ukrainian pilots.
A detailed study, separately conducted by VRT NWS, for which it consulted official ministry of defense figures, also indicates that it is possible, if the political will is there.
Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder (PS) has responded to her coalition partners’ proposal with skepticism. “The matter is very complex, more complex than how it is presented now,” she noted.
